OK. A really good friend i know P + P his 98 OHV a while back and told me that if i ever wanted it on my car he'd do it for free. I have a 99 OHV. I was just wondering what type of performance i could expect from it and if it's even worth tearing open the head to do it.

It was the mod that I did (bought one used), that got me the most power on the "butt dyno" -- I havent been to a dyno yet.

Worth it to me, as the Head on these motors is the most restrictive part.

Definitely a worthwhile mod. If you plan on doing anything else to the engine, this will be a must, so it's a good starting point. You will notice even more if you open up the exhaust a bit, and if it were me, while I had the engine apart, I'd be putting a cam in it, but you'll still see noticeable gains from a good P&P.

A good P&P is definitely one of the best thing that can be done to these motors. Your best bet, if you don't want any down time, is to get a head from a salvage yard. Take that head to a reputable machine shop and have it cleaned and pressure tested. Then have your friend do the P&P. While he's working on that, get a set of +1 mm over-sized valves form Karo at CarCustoms.net or Aaron at Turbo Tech Racing. Both these guys are top notch and wont do you wrong. After your friend is done then you'll need to go back to the machine shop to get a multi-angle valve job done and bronze valve guides inserts installed, since the valve stems are stainless steel.

Another simple mod, if you do it with/before the head work is an aftermarket rocker arm conversion, is so you can decrease the compression distance(increase the compression ratio) with a Cometic MLS head gasket in 0.030" thickness. The stock HGs are 0.055" thick. This will be a moderate amount of increase in compression. Don't do this unless you do the rocker arm conversion, which is adjustable, unlike the stock rocker arms. The adjustable rockers allow for the adjustment of the lift pre-load and without proper pre-load you could damage the lifters and/or other valve train parts.

While the head is in the shop for the valve job and guides, get the head resurfaced. This is to ensure the HG mounting surface is flat and true for proper gasket sealing. Removing some additional material from the head surface will increase the compression ratio also, though not as fast as the head gasket will. If using the MLS HG, don't do more than necessary otherwise you might have to get custom pushrods. If you're not doing the MLS gasket and using a stock replacement (such as the FelPro) and the stock rocker arms, don't go any further than 0.015", otherwise you'll using up the lifter pre-load range.

The P&P and increased compression (w/ the rocker arm conversion) will improve the performance, even with the stock exhaust manifold and cam. even greater increases will be seen with a header (and high flow CAT), as listed in your future plans and a camshaft regrind.

That sounds pretty simple. Yea i'm just kind of looking for the best ways to get power while staying N/A. The only other thing that i am worried about with making more hp and torque on my car is the trans. I run a 3 speed stock automatic or 3T40 i think. How much can it handle before it bites the dust; keeping in mind that the car and everything mechanical in it has 58k miles.

Here's a link to a recent thread from the transmission forum, that should help as far as the tranny goes.

I'm looking into some new info as far as the cams go, that hold a ton of potential as far as the 2200's performance is concerned (and possibly the older 2.2L also.) I'm playing with the potential cam profiles now and they are show some really interesting results!

Overall, if you want the least amount of one-time damage to the wallet, your best bet, get a spare motor and tranny and build them on the side at your own pace then do the install all at one time. Just do your bolt-ons now and be patient building the motor and tranny. This will also allow you to do some research on the motor and tranny and collect the parts as appropriate to you application.

If you have any questions, don't be afraid to post them. Myself or one of the other knowledgeable people (OHV notec, slowolej, etc..) will help. I might be slow at responding sometimes, but I try to reply whenever I can.